1X's product head says its new humanoid hand has solved one of the toughest problems in robotics

1X's new robotic hand. 1X 1X unveiled new hands for NEO, its humanoid home robot. The hands can pour tea, plug in a charger, and communicate in sign language, the company said. 1X product head Dar Sleeper said the company has cracked the long-standing robotics "hands problem." The race to build useful humanoids is coming down to the hands. 1X, which builds the home humanoid NEO, unveiled a new robotic hand last week that it says matches or exceeds human performance. The company said the hand can pour tea, sort grapes by color, plug in a USB-C charger, and communicate in sign language. Humanoid companies have been gunning to solve what Elon Musk has called the "hands problem," the challenge of building a mechanical equivalent of the human hand by replacing skin and muscle with sensors, motors, and software.